"There is only one power that determines the course of history . . . the power of ideas." — Ayn Rand

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Drew Harris's Stealth Call for More Government Control

U.S. Health Care: We're Far From No. 1, reads the headline of an opinion piece by Drew Harris, director of the health policy program at the Jefferson School of Population Health in Philadelphia. Harris's piece, in fact, is not about American health care. It is a statistical study about the health and mortality of Americans in general, compared to other countries. Big difference. Harris cites a shorter American life expectancy, for which he blames high rates of adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, baby deaths, smaller babies, heart and lung disease, obesity, diabetes (which is linked to obesity), homicides, gun-related deaths, traffic fatalities, lack of exercise, unhealthy diets. Harris goes on:

The [National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine] report’s authors struggle to find a common thread running through the fabric of American life that might be responsible. Beyond the usual suspects — lack of adequate health insurance and an inefficient health care delivery system — they point to social and economic factors that are seemingly disconnected from health, including the large number of children who grow up in poverty, our nation’s growing income disparity, our lack of social mobility and a fraying social safety net.

So, the litany grows; the uninsured, "inefficiency"--i.e., residual freedom--poverty, income disparity [?], lack of social mobility [??], and a fraying social safety net (despite trillion-dollar deficits).Notice how Harris smuggles in the collectivist premise. This sets the stage for his conclusion: "But we aren’t powerless. Collectively, we can and will do something about it. Otherwise, the cost of inaction will surely bankrupt us."I left the following comments:Here's an alternate conclusion: "But we are not powerless. Individually, we can take responsibility for ourselves. We can each resolve to exercise regularly, eat healthy, drive safely, be good parents."But, taking care of yourself contradicts Harris's desired "solution"--to "do something" "collectively"; which means, more government control over our lives. What does doing something "collectively" mean in practice? Government-mandated exercise, or diet "guidelines," or more wealth redistribution, or more gun control, or whatever other kinds of intrusions we "collectively" choose to pile on. How to justify collective action? Collectivize the problems using statistics (which, even assuming their accuracy, tell you nothing of individuals, only of an average relative to other averages).The problems cited above are not collective problems. They are individual problems. People who make good choices generally lead healthier lives, along with their families, and vice-versa. But personal responsibility is the hallmark of a free market, which entails the moral right and responsibility to make our own choices and pay our own way, which leads to progressively less government control of our wealth and our lives, which in turn removes the artificial disincentives to take better care of ourselves. Personal responsibility means being in control not only of your personal health habits but your health care. As long as we have a system in which each of us is responsible for everyone else's healthcare expenses, but not his own--through government programs or government controlled health insurance--we will have neither. As long as we maintain the entitlement regulatory welfare state, national bankruptcy is unavoidable.The headline is misleading. This article is not about U.S. health care. It's not even essentially about health. Otherwise, why throw in homicide and traffic deaths? It is a call for "collective" action; about stealthily advancing a political agenda of more government control and less individual liberty.Another correspondent made some insightful comments contrasting the current system of political cronyism with a free market. My reply to MarkM's comment:"If doctors and other health care providers thought like businessmen in a free market environment..."Yes, because the natural incentives inherent in a free market--consumers seeking the best quality at the best price and providers seeking expanded sales through voluntary trade--leads to progressively better quality at progressively more affordable prices, over time. Then CEO salaries would be aligned with consumer satisfaction rather than successful political connections. For that to happen, we need to get rid of today's corrupt mixed system of government controls and private enterprise, and institute a separation of healthcare and state.

MarkM's full comment is:

If doctors and other health care providers thought like businessmen in a free market environment, they would understand concepts like what price the market can bear, and would strategize accordingly to make sure their products could be sold for a reasonable price to the maximum number of people. Judging by the hefty compensation levels of CEOs at major HMOs, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, somehow I do not believe that they are thinking this way.

The drumbeat of more government control continues. Statists have a myriad of ways to facility statism's advance. Drew Harris has presented us with one.

1 comment:

They throw in homicide & tfc. deaths because they're only after a union of state with all human action.

To replace the mixed sys. with capitalism, the pgm. must be publicly billed, up front, as such & to be phased in. (Let'em call it piecemeal.)

There are as many ways (and more) to facilitate statism as there are ways to advance human life, but they all boil down to initiatory force. Arguments, elections & all don't change that. They only make initiatory force possible without actual violence, but it's still initiatory force.

There's only one way to stop & turn back statism: retaliatory force. Arguments, elections & all, even when effective, simply enable retaliatory force without actual violence, but it's still retaliatory force, and moral.

About Me

Greetings and welcome to my blog. My name is Michael A. (Mike) LaFerrara. I sometimes use the pen or "screen" name "Mike Zemack" or "Zemack" in online activism, such as posted comments on articles. “Zemack” stands for the first letters of the names of my six grandchildren. I was born in 1949 in New Jersey, U.S.A., where I retired from a career in the plumbing, building controls, and construction industries, and still reside with my wife of 45 years. The purpose of my blog is the discussion of a wide range of topics relating to human events from the perspective of Objectivism, the philosophy of reason, rational self-interest, and Americanism originated by Ayn Rand.

As Rand observed: “The professional intellectual is the field agent of the army whose commander-in-chief is the philosopher.” I am certainly not the philosopher. But neither am I a field agent, or general. I am a foot soldier in that Objectivist army that fights for an individualist society in which every person can live in dignified sovereignty, by his own reasoned judgment, for his own sake, in that state of peaceful coexistence with his fellow man that only capitalist political and economic freedom can provide. While I am a fully committed Objectivist, my opinions are based on my own understanding of Objectivism, and should not be taken as definitive “Objectivist positions.” For the full story of my journey toward Objectivism, see my Introduction.

One final introductory note: I strongly recommend Philosophy, Who Needs it, which highlights the inescapable importance of philosophy in every individual's life. I can be reached at mal.atlas@comcast.net. Thanks, Mike LaFerrara.

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Quotes I Like

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.—Francisco d'Anconia

I love getting older...I get to grow up and learn things. Madalyn, 5 years old, Montesorri student, and my grand-daughter

The best thing one can do for the poor is to not become one of them. Author Unknown

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. Francis Bacon

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Ronald Reagan

Thinking is hard work. If it weren't, more people would do it. Henry Ford

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. Ayn Rand